Billions of barrels of Nigerian reserves to be leased: official

2-Feb-2010

Up to 2 billion barrels of Nigerian oil reserves will be leased in the near future, an official said this week to the Financial Times.

According to Emmanuel Egbogah, petroleum adviser to Nigeria's president, "There will be a bid round this year that will include small or marginal fields … [and] big ones as well."

Energy-hungry Asian oil companies have discussed development deals with the Nigerian government before: a letter obtained by the Financial Times in September hinted at Chinese oil company CNOOC's interest in acquiring 6 billion barrels of Nigerian oil - one-sixth of the nation's proven reserves.

And Western supermajors Shell and ExxonMobil already have a major presence in the sub-Saharan nation. They may be unlikely to seek out new deals in Nigeria, though, due to ongoing unrest within the country that resulted in reductions in oil production.

Nigeria was eclipsed recently by Angola as sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producer.

And the rebel activity in Nigeria is continuing, despite a tentative peace agreement reached last fall. This week, a Shell pipeline in Bayelsa State was damaged by what company officials believe was sabotage.

Breaking news brought to you by the Oxford Princeton Programme, specialists in oil courses. This and other related topics are part of the forthcoming course The Changing Geopolitics of Oil and Gas: Identifying and Managing Political Risk on 20-21 May, 2010 in Singapore.